KOTAH TRANSPORT LTD Vs. JHALAWAR TRANSPORT SERVICE LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) 1. These three appeals arise out of as many suits for recovery of damages instituted against the common defendant, the Kotah Transport Ltd., the appellant in all these appeals, by different plaintiffs, who are respondents to these appeals. First Appeal No. 21 of 1952 arises out of Suit No. 14 of 1949 instituted by the Jhalawar Transport Service Lid., the plaintiff in that suit, in the Court of the Civil Judge at Jhalawar. First Appeal No. 4 of 1955 arises out of Suit No. 36 of 1949 instituted by the plaintiff Amar Nath Bhatia in the Court of the District Judge at Kotah, while First Appeal No. 5 of 1955 arises out of Suit No. 37 of 1949 instituted in the same Court by the plaintiffs Suit. Gayatri Devi and her minor son Dhirendra. All these suits were field on the same day, that is, 29-7-1949. Most of the witnesses are also common, but Suit No. 14 of 1949. which has given rise to First Appeal No. 21 of 1952, was disposed of earlier on 29-3-1952, by the Civil Judge of Jhalawar, and the other two suits were disposed of later by the District Judge of Kotah on 30-11-1954.

(2.) ALL these cases relate to an unfortunate incident, which happened on the 30th of July, 1948, between 10 and 11 A. M resulting in a collision between the defendant's Bus No. RSKT 428 and the Bus of the Jhalawar Transport Service Ltd.. No. RS 256 JH. For the sake of convenience these buses will be hereafter described as "the Kotah Bus" and "the Thalawar Bus'' respectively. The defendant's Kotah Bus happened to be travelling from Aklera to Kotah via Patan. It left Aklera a day earlier on 29-7-1948; but since the Tindhara river was in high flood, and could not be forded, the Bus and the passengers stopped for the night at Mundawar. In the morning the Bus left for Munderi, and then it crossed over the bridge of the Kalisindh river, on which water was flowing. It was then running on the Munderi road and was hound for Patan, from where it had to go to Kotah. It was being driven bv its driver Mohammad Sharif, and was fully loaded with passengers and goods.When it reached the tri-junction of three different roads, or to be more accurate a junction of four roads, near the gate of the Khandia garden, it had to take a turn towards the south in order to go to Patan. It should be stated here that the route from Patan to Jhalawar runs from south to north in order to go to the garage; but to go to Mangalpura and to the Clock Tower side the road takes a turn towards the west. The Munderi Road, which comes from the north-east, also joins these roads on the east. The bus travelling on the Munderi Road, therefore, had to negotiate a gentle curve at the tri-junction in order to travel south to Patan. While negotiating the turn, or when the Bus had almost negotiated it, it collided violently with the Jhalawar Bus coming from the opposite direction, which was running from Patan to Jhalawar, and was about to turn to the Mangalpura Road. The violence of the impact was such that the left front wheel of the Kotah Bus was pushed inside, and the Bus overturned losing balance on its left side in the middle of the road, its engine facing towards Mangalpura, while the right front bonnet of the Thalawar Bus and its engine were completely smashed. One of the occupants of the Kotah Bus, Shri Indra Sen Varma, husband of Smt. Gayatri Devi. and father of Dhirendra, the plaintiffs in one of the suits, was thrown out and crushed under the body of the bus, and he died on the spot. The left leg of another occupant of the Kotah Bus, Sri Amar Nath Bhatia of Jhalawar, the plaintiff in another suit, was caught underneath the over-turned Bus, and was broken to pieces; the leg eventually had to be amputed; and several other passengers also received injuries. The Manager of the Jhalawar Transport Service Ltd., Shri Satyadev Shukla (P. W. 4). received information of the occurrence, and, he immediately rushed to the spot. Information was lodged with the police, who promptly took up investigation. The dead and injured were removed to hospital, and arrangement was made for the transport of the stranded passengers. The police also had photographs taken of the place of occurrence and the position as also the condition in which the buses were lying as a result of the accident.